Becoming God's Masterpiece: Part 3

Dr. Eric Geiger, pastor, author, vice-president of LifeWay’s Church Resource Division, said, “The Christian life is not about trying more, it is about dying more.” In our series on Transformation through the month of January, we have been examining how we can cooperate with God in His work of transforming us into His masterpiece. Our efforts are not to be simply trying harder to “do” spiritual things so that God will bless us. It is exactly as Dr. Geiger said; our efforts to cooperate with God’s work in us are all about surrender. We surrender ourselves more and more to Him as we carve out time in our lives for Him. As we invest time in His Word, in prayer, in worship and meditation, God works in us to shape us into the image of His Son Jesus. It’s not about doing, it’s about dying.

On January 15 & 22 we explored how God uses worship and prayer to transform us, and we offered some suggestions on how to incorporate both into our daily routines. Do you remember them?

Worship

• Prepare for Worship – Deliberately set aside everything else, plans for the day, worries and cares, and focus on giving God His due praise and adoration. Confess any known sin and make right any known wrongs.
• Participate in Worship – Sing! Pray! Give! Respond as the Spirit leads! Don’t just be a spectator as others worship God. Worship Him as if no one is present except Him and you.
• Add Worship to Your Week – Make worship a daily exercise. Spend time before God in simple praise and thanksgiving. Add some praise music to your day whenever possible. Sing along. Begin a worship lifestyle.

Prayer

• Set a Time for Prayer – Set aside time to pray. Guard that time as you do every other important appointment.
• Use Prayer Lists – Create lists to aid in focused, deliberate intercession for others. Pray through your lists regularly. Make notes of any answered prayers or situational changes. Keep praying.
• Pray the Scriptures – We can always steer our prayers toward God’s purposes when we pray His Word back to Him. Saturate your prayers with Scripture. (Scripture memorization that was discussed in a previous week helps greatly here!). Allow God’s Word and will to guide and shape your prayers.
• Pray as Communication – Converse throughout the day with God. Shoot “arrow prayers” to Him as you face every new challenge of the day.

As you read and study the Word, pray, and worship daily, God will work the process of transformation in you bit by bit. Go back and watch the “God’s Chisel” video again. Review how the process works. Don’t be discouraged; it’s a marathon not a sprint.

In the closing message of the series we will examine how God uses partnerships in the process of transformation. God works in us so that He can work through us; and as He works through us He is also working in us. It’s an exciting journey. Will you join us?

More on Being God's Masterpiece

YOU are God's Original Masterpiece. On January 1 we explored Ephesians 2:10 which declares us to be God's "workmanship". The word means masterpiece, a unique composition. We learned that God does this work in us, but we must cooperate, and that it is a long journey. We are spending the month of January learning ways we can cooperate with God in this process of transformation, so that we will become His perfect Masterpiece. 

The message on January 8 dealt with "Transformation Through the Word" using several different scriptures, but primarily focused on Hebrews 4:12. The Word of God is the primary tool He uses in the work of transformation. As we saw in the video from January 1, God cuts away everything that does not look like Jesus. This verse tells us that God's Word cuts through and reveals the thoughts and intents of our hearts. It shows us what is not like God, and how we are to remove those things. It is spiritual surgery, and any surgery is painful. But the results are well worth the pain of the process!

Are you joining us on the journey to become God's Masterpiece? Here are the Bible challenges we are taking:

• Read the Bible every day. Yearly Bible reading plans are available at church, or there are literally thousands available free on the internet. I personally use one through www.youversion.com. It is free, and sends reminders to me daily in my email, and I can even get reminders and read it on my smart phone with a YouVersion app. Check it out.
• Use Sunday School material to supplement your daily Bible reading. The free material we provide is an excellent resource to guide you, and provide additional understanding as you read. If you don't take one home, start this week.
• Memorize Scripture. Memorizing Scripture allows you to carry more tools in your toolbox for the Holy Spirit to use as He seeks to help you each day. We have begun memorizing a verse or passage every month. For January, let's seek to memorize the key verse for the Transformation message series:

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)

Remember to read with a pencil and paper nearby. Make notes about what you read, do not understand, or when God speaks to you. Seek to understand what you read. And when you understand it, ask yourself, "so what?" What do you need to do with what you have read? How do you need to respond? How will you begin and when? with whom do you need to share what you have learned? 

Set aside time each day and get to know God's Word. Before you know it, you will experience transformation!

The Benefit of Social Media in Ministry

Social Media are taking the world by storm. We increasingly connect with others electronically more than through any other medium. Should churches and ministries utilize this new phenomenon? Does it at least demand serious investigation?

Social media isn’t really new. While it has only recently become part of mainstream culture and the business world, people have been using digital media for networking, socializing and information gathering – almost exactly like now – for over 30 years.

The original social media network is called the telephone. Other methods of social networking through the 1970's and 1980's included several attempts at chat rooms, podcasts via voicemail, and electronic bulletin board systems. Social networking as we know it today began when the world wide web became publicly available on August 6, 1991. By the late 1990's, internet forums grew in popularity and began replacing the old systems. The first social networking website was SixDegrees, which let people make profiles and connect with friends in 1997. This kind of interactive, social web application style became popularly known as “Web 2.0” and it really gained momentum with Friendster around 2002-3, followed by MySpace (2004 – 2006) and then Facebook (2007 -> ). The big trend on the web is moving away from static “pages” and into real-time stream of status updates on what is hot and happening right now. The most popular mediums capitalizing on this demand are Twitter and Facebook. Although is trails in actual use, Twitter has caught up with Facebook in awareness and brand recognition.

The significant problems that arise in the realm of social media are human. For example, with this great new way to express oneself, users can at times post things they would not share on reflection. Social media is a public forum, and anything shared is potentially shared not only with one's friends, but with the entire planet. Therefore, expressing one's dissatisfaction with one's employer via social media is a good way to end your employment in a matter of hours. a good rule of thumb is if you would not print it on a billboard, do not post it via social media.

Another problem arises with the sheer number of social media outlets available. If you sign up even a handful of social networks and web services — think Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn — you've got multiple lists of contacts to manage in each place. Most of these services let you import contacts from at least two of the others, and even do repeat imports to find friends who've recently signed up for a service you've used for a while. However, you get the most out of each of these social tools when you take the time to groom your contacts, organizing them around different contexts and scaling your level of contact to the closeness of your relationship. But there is no way to keep your Twitter lists in sync with your Facebook lists, or to create LinkedIn relationships that reflect your contact organization in Gmail. With so many networks and contacts to keep organized, the experience becomes less than satisfying and even burdensome. Information overload is a common problem.

Today we're more likely to be drowned in a river of feeds, not to mention e-mail, texts, updates, voicemail, and the phone. There are great tools for creating, finding, organizing and viewing content, but very little to help thin out and manage the volume of information that now flows online. The challenge of information overload and attention management isn't just a technical problem, it is a human problem.

Despite the inherent problems in using social media, it has taken the world by storm. "A recent study surveyed just over 1000 Americans and asked questions such as when, where, and how much time they spend on sites and services like Facebook and Twitter. It turns out that many of us are obsessed.

Not only do we check Facebook and Twitter throughout the day, almost half of the respondents said they check in on the social media scene in bed, during the night, or as soon as they wake up in the morning. And no big surprise here: users under the age of 25 tweet more at night than older users" (Dyer, 2010, ¶3).

Recently, Starbucks® used social media to attract customers in a very successful advertising campaign. Starbucks’s Vice President of Brand, Content and Online, (Van Grove, 2010) revealed that "last year’s Free Pastry Day was a whopping success, driving more than one million people to stores" (¶1).

The Free Pastry Day promotion offered via Twitter and Facebook a free pastry alongside the purchase of any beverage until 10:30am local time. Activity on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook became electric on the day of the event as the free pastry news spread in digital form. Starbucks credits fans with the idea to use social media to drive new business (Van Grove, 2010). Starbucks also "speaks to the success of the company’s Tax Day green initiative to get customers to bring in their own tumblers in exchange for free coffee, which — like Free Pastry Day — was primarily promoted online via their Facebook Page" (Van Grove, 2010 ¶3). "Right now there’s no big brand better embracing social media than Starbucks. The coffee retailer has managed to dominate on Facebook, made news as the first company to offer a nationwide Foursquare deal, and was selected to try out Twitter’s Promoted Tweets ad platform before other advertisers will have the chance" (Van Grove, 2010, ¶ 4).

Currently, Facebook leads the way as the preferred medium of sharing information with our social network (Carlson and Angelova, 2009). In fact, with 400 million users, Facebook boasts more users than some countries' population (Zuckerberg, February 4, 2010, ¶1).

Twitter is not far behind. A recent study captured and articulated the popularity of Twitter in the United States. Edison Research and Arbitron Internet recently surveyed 1,753 Americans age 12 and over to reveal the people using Twitter and defining a new era of communication. They found that the social media giant can boast 17 million users in the United States alone (Edison 2010). With growing use and popularity, social media is here to stay. As a technologically savvy population increasingly turns to the internet for news, research, and information, the use and proliferation of social media will undoubtedly continue to skyrocket.

In fact, according to journalist Stephanie Gleason (2010), “Social media’s prominence has led many news organizations to hire social media editors, full-time staff members – sometimes several full-time staff members – completely dedicated to the rapidly growing phenomenon” (p. 6). These new managers of “citizen journalism” (Gleason, 2010, p. 6) monitor social media for news tips and trends of interest to users, making sure that traditional news reporters are abreast of current happenings of interest. They also provide news bits via social media outlets that direct interested readers to their news outlets for more information. The secular world of news and media has jumped into social media with both feet and plans to stay.

SOCIAL MEDIA IN MINISTRY

Christian author, researcher, church-planter, and social media mogul Ed Stetzer (2010) sees four distinct benefits of social media to ministry:

• Social media assist in community. “Social media itself cannot create enough community for us to live as God intends, but they can be a part of it” (¶2). Virtual community and real community are not at odds with each other. They should be and can be friends, virtual helping the real. Social media can connect people in ways that allow them to share over issues large and small. Many times people will share over social media aspects of their life they would not share otherwise. This allows friends to share that part of life with inspiration and encouragement.
• Social media assist in communication. In this age many reply on electronic communication over other forms of communication. Better still, these forms of communication follow us around, and cannot be forgotten or misplaced.
• Social media assist in inspiration. While many choose to share only the mundane via social media outlets, others are choosing to share valuable theological, classical, Scriptural, and read-worthy information. “Therefore, this medium can serve as a means of introducing participants to theologians, pastors, writers, musicians, books, conferences, and so on” (¶6).
• Social media allow better introductions. “Admittedly, people who use social networking choose to share more of themselves. However, in doing so, they have the opportunity to show the work of the gospel in their thinking, family, and lives” (¶7).

Southern Baptist seminary president and theologian Albert Mohler (2010) writes, “In 1 Peter 3:15, the faithful Christian is described as “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” Christians must be engaged in the public conversation that goes on all around us. Like the old media of print and airwaves, the new media demand our attention — not just because they are the conduits of what is new, interesting, and entertaining — but because these are the media currently shaping the minds around us, igniting the interest of the public, establishing what our friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens understand as reality” (¶9).

Missionary Karl Dahlfred (June 4, 2010) agrees. On his blog post, entitled “Should Missionaries use Facebook and Twitter?”, he gives similar reasoning for why social media can be beneficial, including increased communication with one’s support base and potential supporters. For a missionary living abroad, the quick and easy communication social media provides can be invaluable.

Conclusions

Based on the analysis of social media and its current successful uses in secular venues as well as some Christian ministries, the following conclusions are observed:

1. Social media are the fastest-growing new avenue of communication in the world today.
2. In a new era of global communication, people are connecting electronically more than ever before.
3. The costs of using social media are practically negligible.
4. Social media are already being used in various ministries with great success.

On the basis of these findings, the author recommends that local churches and Christian ministries investigate and utilize social media to enhance their ministry communication and productivity.

Sources:

Dyer, P. (March 21, 2010). We’re addicted to social networks: 48% of us check them in bed. Pamorama.net. Retrieved from http://www.pamorama.net/2010/03/21/were-addicted-to-social-networks-48-of-us-check-them-in-bed  

Starbucks used social media to get one million to stores in one day. (2010, June 8). Mashable.com. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2010/06/08/starbucks-mashable-summit/

Carlson, N. & Angelova, K. (July 21, 2009). Chart of the day: How people share content on the web. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-social-networking-sites-dominate-sharing-2009-7

Zuckerberg, M. (2010, February 4). Six years of making connections. Facebook Blog. Message posted to http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=287542162130 

Edison Research. (2010, April 29). Twitter usage in America: 2010. Retrieved from http://www.edisonresearch.com/twitter_usage_2010.php  

Gleason, S. (2010 Spring). Harnessing social media: News outlets are assigning staffers to focus on networking. American Journalism Review, 32.1, p. 6-7. 

Stetzer, E. (2010, June 1). The blessings of the new media. Tabletalk Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/blessings-new-media/

Mohler, A. (2010, June 1). After the revolution. Tabletalk Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/after-revolution/

Dahlfred, K. & S. (2010, June 4). Should missionaries use Facebook and Twitter? Dahlfred.com. Message posted to http://dahlfred.com/en/blogs/gleanings-from-the-field/351-should-missionaries-use-facebook-and-twitter

Content With Your House & With Your Spouse

Due to the positive response following the recent message series "Making Love Last for a Lifetime", and for those who have requested more help in the area of relationships, I have written down some of the teachings from the series, plus some extra help with each topic. A link is provided at the end of this material where it can be downloaded and printed in its entirety for easier usage. Review each topic, its basic truths, and then complete the assignments, including the scriptures for memorization. The key to realizing lasting and positive change in your relationships is the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. He will work through prayer, God's Word, and our efforts to transform us and fill our relationships with love that lasts a lifetime!

Section One: Battling Envy & Cultivating Contentment

"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up."

1 Corinthians 13:4 (NKJV)

Envy has a long and sordid past with its origin in the very heart of Satan. Isaiah 14:12-15 records Satan's jealousy of God's throne and deity, and his desire to steal them away. Ever since envy became his own downfall, Satan has realized its power for the destruction of human relationships. From Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to the present day, mankind boils with envy for what belongs to another. In fact, the Greek word for envy is 'zelo', literally meaning "to boil".

Envy does not just grow overnight, like dandelions. It develops over time.

• Stage One: Discontentment

We become discontent with unfulfilled expectations. Never mind that our expectations are unreasonable or even impossible. We have made unequal and unfair comparisons to which no one can measure up.

• Stage Two: Disillusionment

Confusion sets in due to our unfulfilled expectations. "I never thought it would be like this..." We become negative toward that which does not measure up.

• Stage Three: Deception

The unfair comparisons intensify. We deceive ourselves into thinking that something or someone else is better. But we cannot see the whole picture, only the outer facade. We become infatuated with an illusion.

• Stage Four: Desire

We become convinced that the illusion can bring happiness or significance. We fool ourselves into thinking that we cannot live without it.

• Stage Five: Destruction

We chase the illusion no matter what the cost to our current relationship. And then we discover that it is just an illusion. No one could possibly be as perfect as we had thought. Our relationship is now severely damaged. We have crashed and burned.

The music video "Slow Fade" by Casting Crowns gives a poignant illustration to this process.

How can we battle envy and cultivate contentment?

1. Confess the SIN of Envy - It is a brutal sin that made God's TOP TEN list! (Ten Commandments - Number 10: "You shall not covet" [envy] Exodus 20:17) Confession must be followed by repentance! Turn away in sorrow from envy and ask God's help to defeat it completely! "For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there." James 3:16 (NKJV)
2. Control Your Thoughts - Your mind is the front line of the battleground for your relationship. Build adequate defenses! We cannot always control or avoid temptation, but we can control our mind. Eliminate whatever tempts you to compare and envy. "Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NKJV)
3. Cultivate Contentment - Love is content with the object of its affection. Love is a decision, not a ficle emotion. Choose to love your spouse unconditionally and choose to be content. Stop looking to others and making comparisons. Choose to be satisfied with what (and who) you have. "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have." Hebrews 13:5a (NKJV)

Suggested Actions:

• PRAY - Pray for the strength of the Holy Spirit to control your thoughts and resist temptation. Ask Him to grow a greater love in you for your spouse. Confess your struggle to him or her and ask them to agree in prayer with you.
• MEMORIZE - Memorize all four of the Scriptures printed above. Saturate your mind with the Scriptures. Find additional verses to memorize that deal with envy, covetousness, and contentment.
• ACT - Take any actions necessary to remove the temptation to compare (let Philippians 4:8 be your guide).

Suggested Resources:

The Love Dare, by Stephen and Alex Kendrick. B&H Publishing Group. ISBN - 0805448853

The Secret to the Marriage You Want, by Drs. Les & Leslie Parrott. Lifeway Church Resources. ISBN - 1415868166 (member book)

This material in a downloadable file (Microsoft Word 1997-2003)

BSFL Sunday School commentary for the week of January 24, 2010

Wrestling With Stuff     Ecclesiastes 2,5

We exchange our lives for the things we buy. But is what we buy worth the price we pay in terms of the time we spend accumulating it? Every verse in Ecclesiastes 2:4-8 begins with "I". By adding every occurrence of I, my, myself, and me, we arrive at a total of 16 references to self in the Holman Christian Standard Bible, and actually 19 in the Hebrew. Solomon was evaluating a time in his life when he was centered on self. He had such an "I" problem this passage is called the "gospel of selfishness".

In verse 10 he states "All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them." Can the same be said of us? Look at the following graphic, taken from USA Today:

We live in an era where storage is big business. We have so much that we refuse to release, we have to pay others to store it for us, or buy a building ourselves to house our trinkets. No one ever had more than Solomon, and after piling it all up he said, "When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind" Ecclesiastes 2:11(HCSB).

What benefit is the over-accumulation of worldly possessions? The old popular bumper sticker that said, "He who dies with the most toys - wins!" is a gross lie! He who dies with the most toys, still dies, still must face God in judgment, and leaves the toys for the relatives to fight over. "What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?" Matthew 16:26 (HCSB) My pastor used to say "There is nothing wrong with having things, so long as things do not have you". That statement is true; but the difficulty is possessing things and not allowing them to possess you.

We must find our sense of sufficiency and self-worth not in the amount of things we possess, but in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. "As he came from his mother's womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands" Ecclesiastes 5:15 (HCSB). Only when we invest in what is eternal will we find wealth that lasts. Only three things in this world are eternal: Christ's Kingdom, the Word of God, and people. Only what is invested in those three will last for eternity.

In Philippians 4 the Apostle Paul wrote the most powerful words on contentment from a prison cell. He wrote that he had learned a secret all of us should learn. Learning contentment (4:10-13) can only be done through Kingdom investment (4:14-18) and trusting completely in God's promised endowment (4:19). When our lives are fully and completely in His hands, we stop worrying about what we have or do not have, and we begin enjoying the abundance He provides!